Re: [tlug] Newbie buying a computer and installing Linux on it

["Lyle (Hiroshi) Saxon" <ronfaxon@example.com>]

Joseph Essertier wrote:

> So i guess a good used desktop is going to be much cheaper than a good 
> new laptop.  Is that right?  By "good" i mean one that would meet my 
> needs (be easy to install on, reliable, etc.)  Looking at the ad you 
> pasted in here for me, it sounds like a good used desktop would be way 
> cheaper, in fact.  And i could find a "tried and true" machine for 
> Linux too, right?


With the desktop Dells I've installed Linux on so far (Red Hat & SuSE), 
there was no problem at all with drivers (I'm using a CRT monitor).  I 
had a little trouble setting up an NEC laptop, but once it was set up, 
it's been working well (except for a periodic BIOS problem that it would 
be having with any OS, which is not Linux related).

Also, note that that used OptiPlex doesn't include a monitor (but does 
include a keyboard and mouse I think) - if you don't mind a CRT monitor 
though, they can be bought really cheaply or acquired for free if you 
time it right when someone is upgrading their system and going to LCD, etc.

One comment on the English vs. Japanese keyboard layout.  I think the 
apostrophe on the Japanese one is probably the most irritating thing 
(Shift+7), but the main thing is that if you use multiple computers, 
it's best to have the same layout on all of them.  I use an English 
keyboard 99% of the time, but the 1% of the time I have to use a 
Japanese keyboard, there is always lost time with parenthesis, 
apostrophes and quotation marks.....  Any long-term computer you use 
though - both with Windows or with Linux, can be set to whatever 
keyboard layout - even it's not in fact that keyboard.  At the last two 
office jobs I had, I set the Japanese keyboard I was using to English, 
and then I was able to have everything in the same location both on the 
actual English keyboards I used as well as on the virtual English 
keyboards.  There's no need for the extra keys on a J-keyboard - for 
(with Windows) changing from hiragana to katakana, for example, just hit 
F7 after inputting hiragana, etc.  With the Linux computer I use for 
Japanese, that's accomplished by hitting the down arrow, etc.

Lyle